Category: Story of the Month

Taxes Don’t Have to Be Taxing

Young & Healthy has been working weekends these past few months helping families and individuals who need assistance with filing their taxes. Rita is a retired woman in her 60s who worked for the City of Pasadena all of her adult life. She had paid out-of-pocket year after year to have an accountant prepare her very simple tax return. This year, she heard about Young & Healthy’s free tax preparation services and made an appointment. She was thrilled with the results! Not only did we help Rita file her taxes and secure her refund, but by saving the tax preparation fee she was actually able to enjoy her refund for the first time. She left our offices grinning from ear to ear. How often can you say that about doing taxes?!

Keeping a Medical Emergency from Becoming a Financial Crisis

Medical emergencies can be devastating. Not just to a person’s physical health, but to their financial well-being as well. If someone suffers a medical emergency and doesn’t have health insurance, the financial impact can be even more serious and long-lasting than the emergency itself.  When twenty-nine-year-old Damien dislocated his shoulder, he was rushed to the hospital where emergency room doctors were able to repair his injury and alleviate its lasting effects. But Damien didn’t have medical insurance and was presented with a $28,000 emergency room bill! As a result, he was facing financial devastation, even as he experienced a full recovery from his shoulder injury. Fortunately, Damien was referred to Young & Healthy where our Insurance Advocate was able to spring into action. He helped Damien apply for retroactive Medi-Cal coverage, allowing Damien to not only get back on his feet physically, but return to his life on stable financial footing.

If you or someone you know lives in the greater Pasadena area and needs help enrolling in a health insurance plan, please contact Young & Healthy. We are here to help you navigate your many options and find a plan that’s a perfect fit for you and your family.

Sweet Dreams

Young & Healthy is conducting its Mindfulness Training in kindergarten classes throughout Pasadena Unified School District. Courtney, a bubbly little five-year-old, approached our Mindfulness Coordinator, Dr. Rebecca Bokoch and said, “Miss Rebecca, I watch you on TV at home.” Now this baffled Rebecca as she has never performed on television, so she assumed it was a case of mistaken identity. She asked Courtney what she was doing on the TV and Courtney said, “You are reading books and helping me sleep.” Rebecca realized that Courtney had been watching her on the Mindfulness videos that Young & Healthy has created on our YouTube channel. Her parents had found the videos and were using them at bedtime to help Courtney when she was having trouble relaxing and falling asleep. These videos are available for everyone to use and can be found HERE

Sweet dreams!

All In a Day’s Work

On a cold and wintery morning, Theresa called the office to discuss issues with her insurance. She had been receiving inaccurate information from other sources so was transferred to our Insurance Specialist to work out what she needed to do. During the conversation it was discovered that Theresa’s two-month-old daughter, Nicole, was sick with a cold and needed to be seen by a doctor. The Care Team sprang into action and got her an appointment that day to see one of our volunteer pediatricians. While at the appointment the pediatrician detected a potential heart murmur and called Young & Healthy to see if we could refer Nicole to a specialist. We secured an appointment that afternoon with a volunteer cardiologist and little Nicole is now receiving all the necessary treatment. The holidays just got a little brighter for Theresa’s family, and for Young & Healthy it was all in a day’s work.

Happy Holidays from all of us at Young & Healthy!

What a Difference a Day Makes

Every year Young & Healthy goes into the Pasadena schools to perform dental screenings in advance of our Mobile Dental Clinic. Our volunteer dentists are amazing and one of them discovered that one high school student, Cristofer, needed to see a dentist urgently. Cristofer is new to the states and had been in discomfort for months. He had never been seen by a dentist before and his pain was making it hard for him to concentrate in school. Within 24 hours, our care team was able to secure an appointment for Cristofer to be seen by one of our professional volunteer dentists. Cristofer had a tooth extracted and was treated for an abscess and infection. What a difference a day makes. Cristofer is now pain-free and excelling again in school.